A butterfly: An Indian perception with a literary view Mr. Manish Rajan Walvekar (मनीष राजन वाळवेकर) Assistant Professor, Amrita Darshanam, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru-560035. PH-9757405466/ r_manish@blr.amrita.edu & Mr. Tanmay Jayant Bhole (तनमय जयंत भोळे ) Ph.D. research scholar, Deccan College Deemed University, Pune-411006. PH-9730166419/ bholetanmay@gmail.com Introduction: (ABSTRACT) “A flying insect of the order ‘Lepidoptera’, distinguished from moth by their diurnal activities and generally brighter colouring.” -This is the way almost all dictionaries describe a butterfly. But as we all know a butterfly in reality is a much livelier being than such definitions. In many cultures a butterfly symbolises various aspects of life. In Japan it is seen as personification of a person’s soul, but, large number of butterflies is considered as bad omen. Roman belief is a butterfly symbolises soul and in line with it ancient Greek word for a butterfly is ‘Psyche’ i.e. soul or mind. In some cultures it is also considered as a symbol of rebirth. Even Indian belief system (mainly folk-culture) associates a butterfly with some important aspects of life like birth, ancestry, marriage, deceased soul, death etc. The beliefs and customs associated to a butterfly are quite amusing. This paper will try to put a step as far as this symbolism is concerned. Revered scholar Durga Bhagwat, in her masterpiece ‘Lokasāhityācī Rūparekhā’ provides an exhaustive explanation regarding a butterfly in Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit literature (504-527). Interestingly, through several references, she stated that, in Sanskrit literature, not a single name for a butterfly is found (504). However she quotes Mr. K.M. Dave (a scholar of Mṛgapakṣiśāstra) stating that the word pataṅga can be used for manifold meanings including a moth and a butterfly (Bhagwat 508). The meaning shades of the word pataṅga will be discussed later. This topic is a vast area of research. However, in this very paper we will focus on two issues mainly- 1) Symbolism of a butterfly in the folk culture. 2) Statement made by Durga Bhagwat regarding indication of a butterfly in the Sanskrit literature. It is important to mention that almost all the significant folk stories and beliefs about a butterfly are found in the regions like Orissa, Bengal and the north eastern part of India. Some of them seem to be travelled in greater India like Myanmar, Sumatra etc. Let us discuss some folk stories first. 1) A legend of Kuttiya Konda-s (Orissa) mentions the story of birth of a butterfly (Bhagwat 516). Nirantali, a girl, wondering through fields of rice happened to get a flower of ‘phaphan’, assembled it with dirt of her chest and grass and gave birth to a butterfly out of it. In Brahmadeśa (Myanmar), a butterfly is considered as the soul of rice crop (Bhagwat 527). In Aitareya-Brāhmaṇa (1.1) while describing dīkṣṇīyeṣṭi rice is symbolised as retas i.e. semen. Another legend of this girl named Nirantali (Bhagwat 516) quotes that she throws an umbilical cord in the air and it gets transformed into a butterfly. A butterfly is associated with rice and as we all know that rice is considered as a symbol of prosperity i.e. fertility. We will be dealing with this point later. In the second story the relation between a butterfly and creation or birth is clearly underlined. 2) A Gondi myth (Bengal and Orissa) (Bhagwat 516) mentions that Bhukanāsura (a deity) of Kailāsagaḍha desired to attain glory. In his quest for the same he went to Koilāgaḍha and got